Viola Davis joins Prisoners cast

The 'Help' actress will star alongside Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano and Melissa Leo in the thriller, which will be directed by 'Incendies' helmsman Denis Villeneuve.

The film - which has been written by Aaron Guzikowski - follows a small-town carpenter, played by Hugh, whose young daughter and best friend are kidnapped. When police fail to find the girls, he takes the law into his own hands but runs up against Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal), the big-city cop assigned to the case.

Production on the film is scheduled to begin next year, with Alcon Entertainment planning to release the movie in autumn 2013 through their output deal with Warner Bros..

Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson are producing for Alcon Entertainment, along with 8:38 Productions' Kira Davis and Madhouse Entertainment's Adam Kolbrenner. Ed McDonnell and John Stark have been appointed executive producers.

Viola has a string of movies in the pipeline and can be seen next year in 'The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His' and 'The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Hers', 'Beautiful Creatures' and 'Ender's Game'.